Barilla's Adorable Heart-Shaped Pasta To Hit Grocery Stores Nationwide

For a lot of people, nothing says, "I love you," like a great, home-cooked meal, and Barilla is looking to make your recipes a little more romantic this year with a wide release of its popular heart-shaped pasta. Released this time last year for the Valentine's Day season, Barilla originally only made the seasonal shape available through an online giveaway, which was a bit of a disappointment for cooks enamored with the cute, unique pasta. 

Well, the pasta maker has heard your demands. This year, according to a press release sent to Tasting Table, Barilla is bringing back the shape — called Barilla Love — and expanding its availability to select grocery stores and Nordstrom Restaurant Group locations nationwide.

The Barilla Love shape is based on the company's Mezzi Rigatoni, which is a smaller version of the classic rigatoni pasta. Once released, the heart-shaped pasta will be found on special displays in stores, near the pasta or seasonal product sections. For an especially immersive experience, you can head to Nordstrom's flagship store in NYC for a one-of-a-kind experience at the store's restaurant, Jeannie's.

Since Barilla's heart-shaped pasta is based on rigatoni, it will work best with hearty recipes that use plenty of meat and vegetables. A dish like our rigatoni with spicy salami and tomato will warm everyone's heart and bring a little kick to a romantic meal. For the vegetarians out there, a mushroom Bolognese will deliver the savory flavors, and Barilla Love's ridges will help the sauce cling to it as well. Prefer something rich and creamy on the holiday? A spicy vodka sauce is silky and special, with the heat adding a unique element that takes a classic pairing for penne or rigatoni and makes it special-occasion-worthy.

The wide release of Barilla Love is probably all the good news pasta fans need, but the company also has one more offer for Valentine's Day. As part of the pasta's release, it will also be running a sweepstakes called The Pasta Promise Giveaway, where customers can enter to win two stackable, Barilla Love-inspired diamond and ruby-encrusted heart-shaped rings called Ring-a-toni. They are designed by artist Alison Lou, with one being hand painted in Barilla-blue enamel and the second set with a pave 14-carat gold 0.25-carat ruby band and 3.51-carat white diamond bezel heart. So if you want to make this season truly special you can enter on the Barilla Love website from January 23 at 10:00 am EST through February 9 at 11:59 pm ET.